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Upward Feedback Promotes Management Development

In 1984, senior managers from the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 9 in San Francisco returned from a retreat with a renewed commitment to improve their human resources management programs. One area identified for improvement was employee-management communications. Managers realized that feedback was occurring only one-way: from manager to employee. There was no mechanism in place for employees to give feedback to managers on their performance.

• The Solution
• Early Assessment
• Fears of Subordinate Appraisals

The Solution. Region 9's solution was to develop an upward evaluation questionnaire that was first used in 1986. The goals of the questionnaire were to:

• open up communication between employees and supervisors;
• give supervisors input on how they were doing and how they could improve; and
• empower employees by showing them that their opinions mattered and affected the management of the organization.

Early Assessment. For feedback to be valid and useful, experts agree that employees should be asked questions based on their experience in working with their supervisors. Typically, questions assess behaviors such as leadership, promotion of teamwork, and innovation.

Region 9's early assessment asked questions about competencies such as:

• "demonstrates ability to provide clear direction and leadership"
• "encourages open, two-way communication"
• "demonstrates a willingness to coach and support people"

Fears of Subordinate Appraisals. Although the feedback can prove invaluable for individual development, employees often fear the risks involved with providing information about managers who have power over them. John Duff, Chief of Region 9's Human Resource Development Team, notes that employees and managers alike expressed concern and hesitation prior to distribution of the first questionnaire. To help alleviate fears and to encourage honest responses, Region 9 developed the questionnaire and established procedures to assure anonymity of the employees providing the feedback.

The concerns were overcome successfully. Duff reports that the first evaluation of the questionnaire showed that the feedback process was well-liked by managers and employees. Refinements have been made to the process and the satisfaction level remains high. One indication of this satisfaction is the level of participation that has been maintained. Although participation in the upward feedback process has been optional since its inception, the return rate of questionnaires consistently has been between 70 and 79 percent.

"A possible explanation for employee and manager acceptance of the upward feedback process at EPA," according to Duff, "is that the results of the evaluations are used for feedback and developmental purposes only." This is a significant point. A paper by Adiba Ash published in the Summer 1994 issue of Public Personnel Management reported on the results of a study in the Dade County Public School System to assess the impact of subordinate appraisals of managers on central office administators and their subordinates. Consistent with earlier findings published by Glenn McEvoy in the Summer 1990 issue of Public Personnel Management, Ash reported that the degree to which subordinate appraisal results are accepted depends largely on whether they are intended for developmental feedback or for administrative purposes. This is reflected further in a December 1993 article in Management Review called "Fear of Feedback," where the author, Catherine Romano, observes that: "The most common use for upward appraisals is training and development, not for pay increases."

There can be drawbacks to the upward evaluation process. As with other forms of multiple-rater feedback techniques, such as 360-degree assessments, the process is often expensive and time-consuming. EPA's Duff concurs: "After our first evaluation, we found that it took too long to get the results of the evaluation back to the managers and that the process was very paper intensive." Over time these problems have been remedied. In 1993, Region 9's upward evaluation process was completely automated.

EPA will likely combine the use of upward evaluation into a 360-degree multi-rater, approach. Duff forecasts: "Although we have an agencywide upward evaluation instrument in the draft stage, it might never be used. EPA is now developing a 360-degree assessment approach that can be applied to all employees agencywide."

In summary, managers need feedback. Catherine Romano endorses Region 9's upward feedback goals. She notes that: "As organizations flatten their layers and emphasize teamwork, it is harder for managers to get feedback from the people they work closest with."

Originally published on October 1994.